18 posts in this topic

papercut2008uk 91

i've had games installed for 2-3 years that are none steam, they all work fine, no damaged files, no missing files.

then there's steam, i have around 160 games, some i haven't played in a while, but are installed and some that i play all the time.

i have a HDD that is just for games to run off of.

every time i verify cache of games (i'm having to do this more often) there are always files that have failed to verify and steam then downloads them, this happens for about 1 in every 4 games i verify.

so what is it? is it just steam loosing files? is there something wrong with my computer??

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pupdawg21 7

No, games are periodically updated and steam also periodically change their protection mechanisms and how files are stored and organized on your system in between client versions. This causes new files need to be downloaded for games already on disk or just to be re-organized or compressed a different way. If you watch the 'download' as it is occurring you will notice that often no or few files are actually being downloaded instead, the steam client is doing something with the files that are already on your system to match whatever changes they have made int he client rendering the old files in-operable.

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Setnom 634

If when you check file cache and Steam needs to download only a few kilobytes, it's probably nothing of importance. For instance, Ubisoft games like AC III install a Uplay shortcut on the desktop when you run it for the first time.

I removed that shortcut and then when I verify the game's cache, it always downloads 1,2 kb, which I assume it's some sort of "shortcut fix". The game always runs fine.

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Javik 3,795

I have this every time I do an OS reinstall as well, and it seems specific to some games: Left 2 Dead (1 and 2) and Portal 2 mostly. I'm not sure exactly why it happens but my suspicion is that it has something to do with the new content delivery system as it never happened to me under the old system

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chrisj1968 1,413

I have to do the verify cache action on left 4 dead 2. could be an issue with the syncing with the cloud. but when the verify cache takes place, it tells you how many files are missing and them downloads them automatically to fix itself.

I can see how this can get monotonous if you get a hundred or more games. the Sync feature doesn't always work as it was intended.